After splitting of a carcass on a slaughterline the two half-carcasses belonging together are transported further along the line hung on gambrels. The half-carcasses can be connected at the snout, in a part of the neck fat or be fully parted. In certain situations the head can be cut off early in the slaughterline for reasons of hygiene. The present invention relates to cutting free of the tenderloin from the carcasses after splitting of these.
By cutting free the tenderloin from a half-carcass on a slaughterline, it is important that the cutting-free takes place with utmost precision. Today this is done manually. Tenderloin has a relatively high price, which however requires as a prerequisite that the tenderloin is correctly cut-free from the carcass. It is hence important that the tenderloin is not damaged during the cutting-free, and that undesirable sinews and membranes are not cut free together with the tenderloin. A major part of the precision in cutting-free is dependent on that the cutting-free is initiated at precisely the right place. By an automatic cutting-free it is hence very important to be able to perform a very quick and correct positioning of cutting tool and carcass relatively to each other before the cutting-free is initiated.
The speed by which the cutting-free is carried out is in particular important considering the very high pace by which carcasses are processed on a slaughterline. 350 or more animals per hour are often slaughtered on a slaughterline, which corresponds to a pace from arrival at a processing station to arrival of the next carcass of about 10 seconds. Within this period of time a plurality of processing steps must be performed in an automated equipment. This sets high standards for the speed by which the cutting-free takes place. Further the high pace means that the tolerance of errors is low, i.e. that in practice there is not time to correct an inadequate or inaccurate cutting-free. This means that a very stable and high level of precision is required.
The method used today for cutting-free a tenderloin can be performed by manually cutting free the tenderloin from the carcass using a knife or the like. This type of cutting-free causes relatively high degree of irregularity in the tenderloins cut free. Further it is a time consuming procedure which simultaneously exposes the operator to danger, as the cutting pattern is complicated.
An often used method for cutting free the tenderloin in a carcass is that the tenderloin is pre-cut, the carcass is cooled down, and an operator subsequently pulls out the tenderloin manually. Cooling down of the carcass after the pre-cutting is performed so that the tenderloin can maintain its characteristic guttiform shape. It is evident that the manual interaction between the operator and the carcass is very inconvenient taking account of the high pace on the slaughter line. Moreover the manual pulling of the tenderloin is difficult to control precisely, and hence an undesirable variation of the quality of the tenderloins which are pulled manually arises.
Hence there is a plurality of drawbacks by the known techniques for cutting free tenderloins in a carcass. Firstly the prior art techniques involve a manual step. This makes them subject to human error and considerably limits the speed by which the cuffing free can take place. Further the precision of the cutting free can vary from operator to operator, and the result is hence irregular tenderloins, which require varying degrees of finishing treatment. By the manual step the operator is exposed to a risk which is not negligible, and the risk increases with increased speed for cutting-free. It is hence difficult or impossible to increase the efficiency without detrimental effect on safety and/or precision.
The above mentioned drawbacks with the prior art techniques causes that there is a need to provide a new, more safe, more precise and quicker method and a corresponding apparatus for use by cutting free of a tenderloin from a carcass.
It is the object of the present disclosure to fully or partially remedy the above drawbacks and meet the need mentioned. More specifically it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus, which ensures a quick, precise and uniform cutting-free of tenderloins from carcasses.
It is further an object to provide an apparatus, which makes cutting-free of a tenderloin from a carcass independent of manual steps.
It is moreover an object of the present disclosure to provide an apparatus by which the risk associated with cutting free of a tenderloin from a carcass can be minimized, including the risks of repetitive strain injury.
Finally it is an object of the present disclosure to provide a method for cutting-free at least part of a tenderloin in a suspended half-carcass, which possibly takes advantage of the above apparatus.